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> You don’t buy your jeans and jackets by looking for their letters on that pull. I actually do check for a YKK zipper, though I tend to mostly buy second hand
by RijilV 10y ago
> You don’t buy your jeans and jackets by looking for their letters on that pull.
I actually do check for a YKK zipper, though I tend to mostly buy second hand clothing and focus more on the quality rather than style.
- abruzzi 10y agoIn the motorcycle apparel world, "YKK Zippers" is frequently on the bullet list of features that the jacket has. Though they will also advertise the cloth the jacket is made from as well such as "500 wt Cordura with 2000 wt Cordura at impact points". So motorcyclists can be a bit anal.
- et-al 10y agoWhen people view things as "gear," they'll care about the components. And brands are the easiest way of recognizing quality. After all, Gore-tex is just laminated PTFE, Cordura is nylon, Vibram are just rubber soles. Right? Except these brands have convinced us they're synonymous with quality. (And yes, one could also point out that they built their reputations on exclusive patents.)
- djcapelis 10y agoMotorcyclists care about gear because it exists to keep people alive in an accident. The details unfortunately matter quite a bit.
- Mindless2112 10y agoMaybe I'm weird, but I have a favorite zipper: YKK Vislon #5 The teeth are plastic, and you'd think plastic means crappy, but it's actually fantastic.
- leetrout 10y agoExcept when you have them on a motorcycle jacket and they touch something hot. I know that wasn't your point but it certainly surprised me when I found my zipper melted when I carelessly laid my jacket over my seat...
- hammock 10y agoThe Vislon zippers are definitely way better than the coil zippers
- massel 10y agoDo this as well. It makes my wife slightly crazy but I never end up with clothes where the zipper failed
- dghughes 10y agoI do too but it's become increasingly hard to find garments with YKK it seems they lost a major part of the market in the last few years. > One zipper gone wrong can render an entire garment unwearable. Especially a winter jacket when it's -20C with 100km/h winds and your zipper pops open? It could be the difference between life and death.
- sliverstorm 10y agoIt's a big deal on some backpacks too. Mountaineering and rock climbers, some backpackers
- flyinghamster 10y agoBut even a quality zipper doesn't help much if the clothing itself has a design problem. I quit wearing Levi's jeans 30+ years ago because their zippers (I'd have to assume they were YKK) consistently failed near the top of their travel. After one failure too many, I switched to Wrangler/Rustler and never looked back, and never had another zipper go bad. Sure enough, the Wranglers I'm wearing right now have a YKK zipper.
- hammock 10y agoLevi's uses a non-YKK zipper that they brand with their own logo
- ams6110 10y agoThe Levi's I have use buttons.
- MagnumOpus 10y agoLevis 501s have buttons, Levis 505s are the same but with zippers.